Last night a girl who works at my sister's salon called and said that my sister's bank keeps calling saying there is unusual spending on her credit card. My sister left for Mexico last Saturday and won't return until this Saturday. The employee wanted to know if I had any contact information for her.

Well, guess what? She didn't leave any contact info with ANYONE! Not me, not her business partner, not even the gal watching their house while they're gone.

My husband and her husband are in the reserves together, so I had my husband call to see if he had contact info on his leave paperwork and he doesn't!

Now, I imagine the bank is calling because they are seeing transactions from another country; however, it's possible their card got stolen. I really don't know what to do.

We've all left messages on her cell phone, but she's obviously not getting them.

Now that my husband alerted the unit to the fact that my BIL didn't leave any contact information, I wonder if he's going to get into trouble.

I am just going to smack her when she gets back!

Does anyone have any words of wisdom, so I don't spend the next 3 days worrying?

If the bank is that concerned, they will put a block on her card and then if she tries to use it in Mexico, she'll have to call from there.

Actually what I would be MORE upset about (if I were her) is that her bank gave financial information to someone who is NOT her. I don't care what the reason is, to tell someone at her place of work that there's activity on her credit card is completely out of line and unacceptable to me. I dont' care what the reason behind it is ... if my bank were to discuss my finances with anyone other than me, I'd switch banks in a heartbeat.

My credit card company does that whenever I use it internationally, for a large purchase or a series of large purchases (like when traveling!) and once a hold was even placed on my account when I was in Canada. VERY irritating.

The company cannot release information to you unless you are authorized on her account, but if you want to call and just tell them what is happening (she's unavailable and so on) if *might* make a difference. Is shouldn't (because of confidentiality), but maybe if they note it in her account it will make things easier for her if she has to sort anything out.

My account was "frozen" because they called an old number (I *did* update it too!) and I didn't call back, so when I tried to use it in Canada, it was refused. I called them and settled it. Irritating!

What a naughty sister you have, to NOT leave any contact info!

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"I do feel that spiritual progress does demand at some stage that we should cease to kill our fellow creatures for the satisfaction of our bodily wants." -Gandhi

Actually what I would be MORE upset about (if I were her) is that her bank gave financial information to someone who is NOT her. I don't care what the reason is, to tell someone at her place of work that there's activity on her credit card is completely out of line and unacceptable to me. I dont' care what the reason behind it is ... if my bank were to discuss my finances with anyone other than me, I'd switch banks in a heartbeat.

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I didn't even think about that! But you're right. That is personal information that should not have been discussed with anyone but the account holder.

I did just recently hear that people who are planning trips or big shopping sprees should call their bank first and let them know so there is no question of identity theft.

Well, I guess she's just going to have to live with the consequences. If she'd left contact info, we could have cleared this up in no time.

I had that happen once, cc company called me as someone made a $400 charge on my card , someone unknown to me. Bank alerted me as the charge seemed suspicious and cc company saved me a lot of grief by verifying the charge with me.

Could be that. Heard of some people recently getting calls like this. Especially since the bank is giving away personal information.... wouldn't think that would be allowed.

That makes sense! Because apparently the bank called more than once. After they got the message once that she wasn't available until Saturday, wouldn't they quit calling or just block her card? And they wouldn't tell whoever answered the phone specifically why they're calling. Hmmm.

I went to Las Vegas in 2005 for my senior year of college spring break. I didn't alert my bank because I was only going to be there for a week and I didn't plan on making any huge purchases. Well, after a few days of being there, I found that my debit card wasn't going through when I tried to make a purchase. I called the bank and they said they suspected someone had stolen my card because it was being used in Las Vegas. After I told them I was there on vacation, they took the block off. On one hand I am grateful that the banks look out for that kind of thing, but it was also annoying to have to deal with that while on vacation. I don't think we should all have to alert our banks whenever we are going somewhere. I lived in Italy for 4 months in 2003 using that same debit card and they never put a block on it. It doesn't seem to be a consistent practice to me.

When we went to Europe, we called ahead of time and let card companies know the dates and countries we were traveling to. When we went to check out of the last day's hotel, it was the same date we were arriving home and that card had already been shut down for international charging. Fortunately we had another we could use. Next time we'll expand the dates by 1-2 days.

We've camped a lot in the US and Canada. We figure our debit/charging profile recognizes that Wal-Mart, grocery store or campground ANYWHERE, it must be us.

I agree with the scam idea in this situation. Best not to let them now they are away, b/c it could also be break in artists trying to verify that they will be away so they can rip off their house.

As far as the CC companies calling the user about suspicious charges, I LOVE IT!!! Let me share my story. Please bear with the length of this post.

At the beginning of Dec 2007 my wallet was stolen out of my car as I put my shopping cart away. I tossed it in when I was done putting my groceries in and since I tended to drop it out of my armpit and not feel it, I started putting it in my car. I looked for it for the next 2 days. I very specifically remember tossing it onto my passenger seat.

My Union Plus(MasterCard) company called me 2 days later and said they had flagged my account b/c they were getting $1 charges from gas stations. HOLY CRAP my wallet WAS stolen. Union Plus told me that CC theives run them in the pumps to see if they will get approval. They stopped the account and set up a new account for me and sent me a new card that day. They also removed two charges that went on it in the two days it was gone. Thank the powers that be that I have a cell phone. B/c I had been Xmas shopping, I had all my cards with me which is something that rarely happens. I only carry my Debit Card(I have a very small balance on that) and, if necessary, one credit card on a regular basis.

As I was calling to cancel my other cards, I got a call from a man who said he found my Capital One(Visa) card and my Costco membership card in the parking lot where my wallet was stolen. It made sense that a couple of cards could have fallen out as my wallet was being rifled through, so I didn't cancel them b/c I thought I would be getting them back. THE GUY WHO CALLED ME WAS THE B*****D WHO STOLE MY WALLET. By stopping me from reporting them, he was able to charge another $700 on my Cap One(which was $500 over my limit), including a $350 charge to a convenience store(Huh!!!) and write checks to Costco for almost $1000. Not only did Cap One not care about the unusual charges, they didn't stop approval after my limit was breached. All they were looking at was the additional fees they could stick to me for going over limit and hoping I wouldn't be able to pay it off so the fees could keep growing. Union Plus was looking out for me.

When I dealt with Costco later, they wanted a police report and that was all. They stopped trying to collect on the checks, got me a new membership card which will tell the cashier to check my photo ID for checks(I only use cash there now and would be happy if they could put a "Cash Only" notice on my card) and made me feel welcome back as a customer.

I haven't used my Cap One card since. I just received a notice that my account is past due. I think one of my DDs picked up the mail and I didn't get the bill for the "Membership Fee" and I wasn't looking for a bill since I haven't used the card. Union Plus doesn't charge a membership fee. Guess what! I am cancelling my damned Cap One card. I want to deal with a co. that has their customer's interests at heart. I still get calls for U+ whenever anything looks suspicious on my account.

I got my Union Plus replacement about 5 days after all this went down. I was at Target and spent about $400 in the electronics dept. on Xmas gifts. Before I got past the shoe dept. my cell rang. It was a Union Plus rep. wanting to know if I had just made a $400 transaction at a Target store. I was thrilled to know that atleast one credit card co. was looking out for my interests. And I thanked the rep. profusely.

PS. The first purchase I made on my new U+ card was a coat with an inner pocket that my wallet fits into so that I don't have to worry about it EVER dropping w/o me noticing or being off my person while my hands are full.

I like those features on my credit cards too. I primarily use Discover, because they are vigilant about calling when something is suspicious. I bought my washer/dryer from Sears online, and they wouldn't approve the transaction until they called me and confirmed it. They've called me a few times over the years and they send emails too if something is remotely suspicious, and they'll ask you to call them or log into your account. I don't have any other cards who do that. I used my Bank of America card to buy my laptop online, and I just had recently moved, so I had it sent my new address that wasn't on file with them, and it was approved instantly. It was $1200! I was at least expecting a phone call . . . That's why I only carry my Discover cards with me.

Capital One was my very first credit card when I was 16, and I remember them letting me go over limit (it was like $250) and then they increased my APR to something crazy when I was late for a payment after the over limit. I haven't own a Capital One card since.

Operater265-I have issues with Capital One, too. I used to have a card as my business cc, and I had nothing but problems with them. I paid them off as soon as possible and canceled the account! They definitely don't have their customer's interest in mind.

I had a CapitalOne card. I got it back when I was in college. I tried to cancel it maybe 2 years ago, and when I called, they said it was a business account and that I didn't have the authority to close it. WHAT?! Umm, I have never owned a business and have never held a company credit card. The lady put me on hold to investigate, and after being on hold for 15 minutes, I hung up. I never called them back again, and I have not used the card in yeeeears (hadn't used it in years before I tried to cancel, which was WHY I was trying to cancel). I no longer have the card, but I believe the account is still technically open. I check it on my credit report occasionally to make sure nothing funny is going on with it.

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Originally Posted by Darby1

I did just recently hear that people who are planning trips or big shopping sprees should call their bank first and let them know so there is no question of identity theft.

At my last job, they had an annual trip to the Dominican Republic for all the sales reps and business developers who reached their goals for the year. Before they left for the trip, they all were instructed to call their credit card companies (or banks if they used debit cards) to let them know about the trip. It would SUCK to go somewhere and not have your card be usable AND not have good enough phone service to be able to sort it out!